374 READINGS IN RURAL ECONOMICS 



proprietorship, which is encouraged by the law. " In cases of 

 intestacy the law divides all property, including land, in certain 

 proportions, among widow and children ; or equally amongst 

 the children, if there be no widow," and no disposition can 

 deprive the " natural heirs " of their claim to a fixed allotment, 

 sometimes amounting to as much as two-thirds of the whole. 

 Though subject to these limitations, " the custom of making 

 a will is almost universal," but "the restrictions on land by 

 settlements and the like are much less than in England." The 

 consequence is that in the entire province of Prussia, out of 

 about 185,000 freehold estates, rather more than half do not 

 exceed twenty acres in extent. 



" Wurtemburg is remarkable as the country where subdivision 

 of land is carried to the greatest extreme," containing, as it 

 does, some 280,000 peasant owners, with less than five acres 

 each, and about 160,000 proprietors of estates above five acres. 

 Upon intestacy, the land is equally divided among all the 

 children, male and female. The father, however, seems to be 

 allowed full liberty of disposition over the property, so long as 

 a certain moderate portion defined by law (pflicht-thcil) is re- 

 served for each child. On the smaller peasant farms, " when, 

 in accordance with the will of the father, one child becomes 

 owner of all the paternal land, an estimate is formed on a 

 footing rather favourable to him, and he compensates the brothers 

 and sisters by equal sums of money. The daughters, however, 

 are more frequently on their marriage allotted an equal share 

 of land ; and, as the husband is probably the proprietor of a 

 piece of land elsewhere in the commune, the intersection and 

 subdivision of the land goes on increasing." On the larger 

 peasant farms, the custom of primogeniture has encroached still 

 further on that of equal division. Here, the eldest son commonly 

 succeeds to the whole property, "often in the father's lifetime. 

 When the parent is incapacitated by age from managing his 

 farm, he retires to a small cottage, generally on the property, 

 and receives from the son in possession contributions towards 

 his support both in money and kind. The other children receive 

 a sum of money calculated according to the size of the property 



